


Villain Protagonists

by Volcanic89



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Developing Friendships, Frenemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:08:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24235567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Volcanic89/pseuds/Volcanic89
Summary: At some point, they must have realized how alike they were.Short stories revolving around Piccolo and Vegeta; their similarities, rivalries and their eventual mutual respect and friendship. The stories are stand alone and set at different points in DBZ timeline. Rated T for language. Originally published in 2015
Relationships: Piccolo & Vegeta (Dragon Ball)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. Deadpan Snarkers

Meditating alone in the desert was not something Piccolo had ever thought he would miss. In fact spending the majority of his life meditating in a wide variety of extreme climates, he had imagined any time not spent alone on some godforsaken windswept outcropping would be a welcome change. The most solitary part of his life had been before Gohan, before anyone on Earth had even heard of a Saiyan or a Namekian, before his brief stint in the afterlife and subsequent resurrection. Piccolo assumed given the events of the last few years those days of complete isolation may be coming to an end. 

The last few years had seen a spike in Piccolo's social circle, this drastic increase consisted of exactly two people who would willingly speak to him and seek out his company. Those two people also brought along a and a whole host of uneasy allies, who though still scared of him, were no longer outright terrified. Except Krillin, but Piccolo was convinced Krillin was terrified of pretty much anything. 

He was not entirely sure what possessed him to accept Goku's offer to train together every day until the arrival of the androids. He was equally baffled at being extended the offer of training together with his former nemesis. 

There were of course a number of completely reasonable explanations for accepting Son's invitation. First and foremost Piccolo was in no rush to die again and if the boy from the future was correct this death would be more permanet then his previous trip to the afterlife, secondly Son was an amazing sparring partner Piccolo had never improved so rapidly in both sheer strength and technique as he had since beginning to train with him instead of focusing all his energy on training to murder him, also training with him meant that he could spend more time with Gohan and continue to oversee his training, the thought of being separated from Gohan for an extended period of time hurt Piccolo in a way that was new and unwelcome. 

Though Piccolo would ever admit any of these reasons to anyone out loud, to anyone, ever. He expected Son Goku had intuited all of this . That bastard could be dumb as a rock but he was oddly perceptive, especially when it came to Piccolo's feelings. Not that Piccolo would ever admit to having feelings, to anyone, ever. 

Piccolo however had perhaps overestimated how much of Son he could handle in any given day. Since beginning their uneasy partnership to take down Raditz, Piccolo and Son had not spent a great deal of time; in the same room, on the same plant, or even on the same plane of existence. And though Piccolo had decided to take a sabbatical from actively trying to murder Son Goku, perhaps he was not prepared to deal with living alongside his former arch rival.

Kami, if he thought GOHAN was talkative, his father was exponentially worse. He could prattle on, for hours, about food of all things. Even after several strong and sometimes violent reminders that Piccolo did not in fact eat.

Perhaps worse, he had also decided to give Piccolo a nickname. Inwardly Piccolo swore to himself that if Son called him 'Pic' one more time he would rip his face off. He could tolerate Gohan calling him Mr. Piccolo at least that denoted some measure of respect. But 'Pic' was beyond the pale there was no aspect of himself as far as Piccolo was concerned that invited such a diminutive nickname, or any abbreviation of his name whatsoever. 

In his most private moments Piccolo did secretly admit to himself, despite how deeply, deeply, annoying he could be, he couldn't kill Son Goku now. The place in him where the anger and rage that Son had once inspired in him was absent, in its place a whole host of uncomfortable feelings had emerged. Feelings he had no desire to name or explore. 

After four months of close proximity training Piccolo had enthusiastically agreed to ChiChi's suggestion that Sunday's be a 'family day' and that Gohan and Goku were forbidden to train. He was sure his quick acceptance of the plan had surprised ChiChi who thought Piccolo's entire life revolved around disrupting her home life, murdering her husband, and trying to turn her son into a delinquent warrior.

_ ‘Though to be fair,’ _ Piccolo thought, _ ‘she's not wrong.’ _

At this point however anything that guaranteed Piccolo at least a day to meditate in silence was a blessing. Even if it meant agreeing with Son ChiChi of all people. 

Piccolo closed his eyes and prepared to enter a deep meditative state, shifting his position slightly to return circulation to his right foot.

Only to immediately open them again as he felt a familiar ki approach.

_ 'So much for my Saiyan free day' _ he thought, standing up and shedding his cape and turban  _ 'and so much for solitude.' _ Though he had to admit Vegeta's arrival to the desert brought with it the promise of an amazing spar.

  
  


\------

Several hours later Piccolo and Vegeta were breathing heavily. The rubble remians of the previously cliff filled desert were scattered haphazardly around them. Thousands of years of geological progression reduced to nothing in an afternoon. 

"So I guess we'll call this one a draw, eh?" Piccolo rotated his wrist where he had just finished regrowing his hand after a chi blast had singed it off.

"Just because we hit the ground at the same time does NOT mean we are done fighting Namek. If you would like to continue where we left off I can show you the true might of a Saiyan elite." Vegeta said, beginning to lift himself, with some trouble, out of the debris.

"I think it's better to just call it here, one more hit and your ribs will go from bruised to broken and I'll never hear the end of it for delaying your training” Piccolo countered from the crater that had formed as he hit the earth. “Besides it's common knowledge that any friendly sparring match ends when a limb gets severed."

"Whatever" Vegeta scoffed glancing at Piccolo's newly grown hand and trying not to wince as he felt his ribs shifting unnaturally as he moved. "You can just keep regrowing body parts, it's all you lizards are good for."

Piccolo chose to ignore the lizard comment. "Just because I CAN regrow body parts, monkey, does not mean I ENJOY it. It is not as easy or as painless as I make it look."

Vegeta coloured at the monkey comment but did not rise to it. Piccolo smirked. Talking with Vegeta did not happen very often. Warriors spoke with their fists, and Piccolo and Vegeta were nothing if not warriors. 

Usually conversations only occurred after they had both thoroughly depleted their ki to the point where verbal sparring was all they had the energy for. The insults would last until they had recovered enough ki to fly or until they were enraged enough to have a second round. 

For Piccolo communication conducted entirely through bravado and sarcasm was something he felt at home with, and thoroughly enjoyed. It was much easier to deal with than the straightforward and honest way that Son spoke to him. 

"Speaking of monkeys," Vegeta shot back "how is training with Kakarot and his brat?"

Piccolo shrugged, his shoulder popping audibly as he moved "It's fine sparring with a REAL Super Saiyan keeps you on your toes."

Piccolo smirked as he watched Vegeta's face as a vein became increasingly visible in his temple as his face turned from red to purple with barely contained rage. Piccolo idly wondered if Vegeta would continue deepening in colour,  _ 'Pushing his buttons should not be this fun and yet…' _

"By the time these Androids appear I will have surpassed Kakarot, regained my rightful title as the strongest fighter in the universe and wiped that no good, third class, idiot off the face of this wretched mud ball of a planet."

Vegeta did an admirable job keeping his tone even as he spoke. He longed to punch the smirk off the Namek's face. The only thing preventing this was his severely limited ki and the mounting throbbing in his ribs as the multiple fractures he had sustained made themselves known as his adrenaline faded. 

"I'm sure," sarcasm dripped from Piccolo's voice as he popped his shoulder back into its socket.

  
  


"Mark my words Namek, I will kill Kakarot, you will count yourself lucky if I do not end your miserable life as well."

"Well," Piccolo began choosing to ignore Vegeta's all too real threat to his life "If you are planning on killing Son, there is a fairly long line."

A disbelieving look from Vegeta was all Piccolo received in response.

"He's made a fair amount of enemies over the years; in all honestly you'd have to take a number."

"Like who" scoffed Vegeta. From what he had seen everyone on earth seemed ready to fall over themselves extolling Kakarot's virtues. "Kakarot may as well be the fucking mascot for this planet's pathetic bunch of warriors."

"Me for one" Piccolo snapped back.

"You?" Vegeta then paused to laugh. It was Piccolo's turn to blush, the tips of his ears turning purple as Vegeta continued to laugh. "You?" Vegeta continued trying to contain his disbelief, "what could Kakarot have possibly done to make you want to kill him? You live with him for god's sake, you babysit his pathetic half-breed son, if it wasn't for the bald earth weakling you'd be the president of his fucking fan club."

Piccolo raised an eye ridge at Vegeta, "You have no idea do you?"

"No idea of what" Vegeta replied, returning the stare.

"Of anything! Of anything that happened before you showed up! Before you sent Radditz here to look for Son! We had lives before you and your idiot partner decided to crash land on our planet."

"And I care?" Vegeta's flippant tone implied he did not in fact care. "Besides I refuse to believe that you could want to kill Kakarot, this is surely some terrible Namekian attempt at humor."

"You want to know what Son did to make me want to kill him, eh?" Piccolo took Vegeta's noncommittal shrug as the closest to a yes that he was going to get. "Well for starters he killed my father…."

"Bullshit" Vegeta interjected. "Kakarot killing someone? You must be joking, he didn't kill ME after I allowed half his friends to be murdered in cold blood, he didn't kill Frieza for god's sake, FRIEZA! Who had just finished committing some light genocide! And you want me to believe he killed your father?"

"Yes" Piccolo was completely deadpan "he killed my father. Though to be honest given that he had murdered a fair portion of Son's friends and was hell-bent on destroying the world and populating it completely with demons, Son probably did the right thing. In fact I was born with the sole purpose of avenging my father, killing Son and destroying the earth. A plan that was going very well until it got indefinitely sidetracked by idiot monkey's from space continuing to visit the planet."

Vegeta ignored the monkey insult again, trying to absorb Piccolo's backstory. "Are you trying to tell me you were literally born to kill Kakarot."

"Yeah" Piccolo smiled to himself "In fact, next to me and my righteous quest for revenge, your reason for wanting to kill Son is, well, rather trite."

If looks could kill Piccolo was one hundred percent certain that chunks of himself would be scattered across the desert.

"As if you could ever HOPE to kill Kakarot, Namek. That is a luxury that is mine and mine alone" As he yelled Vegeta stood up bringing himself to his full height. Which Piccolo though would have been more impressive if not for the fact that sitting Piccolo still had several inches on him. 

"Whatever" Piccolo shrugged still seated "I've already killed him anyway"

"The fight with Raditz does not count! Nappa and I received the footage of that battle. Kakarot sacrificed himself, he let himself be killed." Vegeta yelled standing next to Piccolo. 

"A kill is a kill," Piccolo said, finally standing and beginning to dust himself off "besides it's not like it matters much anyway. You've probably noticed that on Earth, no one stays dead for very long."

"So why don't you try to kill him then, put him down for good? If your motivation for killing him is SO righteous, why do you train with him? Why are you friends with him" venom dripped from every word.

"I have no interest in killing him. You'll see soon enough. Son, he has a way of making his enemies into allies out of necessity. Then before you know it he turns these allies into friends. You don't even know it's happening. Before you know it, you respect the guy. Eventually all the anger is gone" Piccolo finished softly not even looking at Vegeta, but out into the desert where the sun was beginning to set.

Vegeta glared in the opposite direction toward the Son household. "That will never happen to me Namek.Mark my words. I refuse to become allies with that idiot. He is a disgrace to the Saiyan race. I am only sticking around to kill Kakarot, and because the androids pose an interesting challenge for a warrior of my caliber. Nothing more."

"You say that now Vegeta, hell I said the same thing. Eight or nine years ago after Son saved my life instead of ending it I swore revenge on him. But people like you and I…" 

Piccolo paused here unsure of how to continue. Unsure of how to put his feelings into words, he was not used to speaking this much. Let alone speaking about his past, or about his feelings 

"…People like you and I, we live our lives motivated by anger and loneliness. We will always react to someone like Son, someone who remains so positive in the face of anything. He will always change people. He has that power." Piccolo knew that he hadn't articulated the sentiment properly but it was the closest he could come. He did not understand his own change.

"Speak for yourself Namek" Vegeta turned to face Piccolo " I will never stop trying to kill Kakarot, I will never not want him dead, do not ever presume to compare yourself to the likes of me again. We are nothing alike despite your pathetic attempt at solidarity. I am a first class elite, a Prince, you'd do well to remember that fact before trying to speak to me so candidly." Vegeta tossed his hair looking smug.

Piccolo rolled his eyes. Why was he even making an effort to connect to Vegeta of all people. Probably since despite all insistence to the contrary he and Vegeta had more than a few things in common, though he very much doubted Vegeta was capable of recognizing any of them with his head shoved so far up his own ass. 

"Well if my father wasn't just running his mouth about being royalty, I'm the Demon King, so I think I outrank you there."

"Demon, what?" Vegeta balked. "You know what. I do not care. Namek you are clearly insane and I refuse to listen to any more of your tragic fucking backstory."

"Suit yourself" Piccolo smiled at Vegeta showing off his fangs "I was just trying to make friendly conversation."

Vegeta's expression let Piccolo know the obvious sarcasm had not been missed.  _ 'It should not be this much fun to annoy him'  _ thought Piccolo as he watched Vegeta prepare to leave  _ 'maybe I still have a little demon left in me.  _

Vegeta turned to leave. Then paused for a moment and turned toward Piccolo. Refusing to let the Namek have the last word. 

"You know Namek, I thought you were an idiot when you threw yourself in front of Nappa's blast to save that brat's life. Hearing all of this drivel today has made me even more sure of that fact. I cannot believe any warrior would allow himself to be killed for a child. Let alone the child of your sworn enemy. You're pathetic. And heed my words, you will NEVER see me doing something that stupid."

"No" Piccolo said mostly to himself, as Vegeta rocketed into the sky toward capsule corp., "I doubt that I will"

"Good spar though" Piccolo said into the wind. 

Piccolo sat down and tried once again to meditate. As he began to regulate his breathing and relax his muscles his thoughts once again turned to Vegeta. He didn't know why Vegeta managed to get on his nerves so easily. Probably because seeing Vegeta was a bit like seeing an unflattering portrait of himself at a younger age, full of anger and self-importance. 

Perhaps on some level Vegeta also saw a bit of himself in Piccolo. It would explain why since coming to reside on Earth Vegeta had sought him out several times to spar. Even though they had never discussed their similarities there had always been an unspoken understanding. Or in the very least an appreciation for one another's sarcasm.

Piccolo sighed, speaking at such length about his past had brought up a swirl of unsettling emotions. He decided he would spend the rest of the night meditating on them.

At least that was the plan, until Piccolo's overly sensitive hearing picked up a faint crackling noise, followed by the sharp smell of ozone. And then seemingly out of thin air Son Goku appeared directly over him, landing squarely on Piccolo and throwing both of them into an undignified heap on the desert floor.

"Son I swear to God if you ever drop on to me like that again I will decorate this desert with your intestines"

"Yeah, yeah" Goku said distractedly untangling himself from Piccolo and standing up, "So I felt Vegeta's power level earlier, I tried to come out to spar with you guys but ChiChi caught me and gave me that look, you know that look , the one that says you're in huge trouble and…"

Piccolo nodded half listening to Son ramble on about his wife and her displeasure. He was getting quite adept at tuning Son out when he began to go off on a conversational tangent, which was always, 

"He's still hell-bent on killing you, you know" Piccolo interjected.

"Oh, he'll come around," Goku replied nonplussed. "I mean you came around. And you were WAY scarier than Vegeta."

"I suppose so, though Gohan gets most of the credit for the conversion" Piccolo shot back.

"I deserve credit too" Goku sulked "I mean I didn't kill you and I gave you a senzu and everything."

"Yeah, yeah" said Piccolo quickly not wanting this to turn into an argument. Son was much less fun to argue with than Vegeta was. Mainly because Son's main tactic in arguments was to look like a puppy who'd just been kicked.

"Anyway there is no need to be jealous of Vegeta, You'll always be my very first arch-rival Pic."

"Son, what have I told you about using that idiotic nickname to refer to me!" Piccolo fumed.

"Sorry, Pic.." Piccolo glared eyes flashing red "…colo" Goku finished hands raised in mock surrender. "Now let's go home. Gohan wanted me to come and get you so he could show you this drawing he's been working on all day, he's really proud of it." Goku held out his hand in Piccolo's direction.

Piccolo sighed and reached out to take the hand. It never ceased to amaze him how casually Son acted around him. Even though a few years ago he would have torn Son's arm off if it was so casually presented to him. 

The way he spoke to him and treated him made him feel so normal.

'Vegeta will come around' Piccolo thought glancing one last time in the direction Vegeta had flown off in 'and when he does, I will rub this conversation in his smug face. But for now let him be fueled by anger. I'm just glad that's not my life anymore.'

And in the moment before Son used his instant transmission to teleport them out of the desert. Piccolo realized how fundamentally different he had become in the past few years and how glad he was to have allies and friends. And, though he still had numerous other faults, Piccolo could no longer count holding a grudge against Son Goku as one of them.

\----------

A/N

This fanfiction was originally posted on Fanfiction.net in 2015. 

Seeing so many interesting takes on Piccolo/ Vegeta relationships made me nostalgic for my own attempts to insert feelings into two of the most stubborn men in fiction. 

I had intended to post it on Ao3 in its original unedited format. After reading the original over I've done some light editing to hopefully strengthen the story and keep the character voices clearer. If had good bones but needed a little bit of a facelift. 

  
  
  
  
  


Original 2015 Author notes below

I have always been fascinated as someone who watched Dragonball before watching DBZ how similar Piccolo and Vegeta's character arcs were and how well they were both done over the course of both series. I also felt that Vegeta and Piccolo had a unique relationship later in DBZ it was some kind of mutual respect thing. I assumed that it was a result of them both being former antagonists and finding common ground in that. Though it struck me this was never explicitly explored or state in the canon.

So here is my humble attempt to bridge those gaps via fanfiction. This will eventually be a series of interconnected stories that hopefully also stand on their own. 

See you soon

-V


	2. Antagonist in Mourning

It was over,

It was over, for the first time in Vegeta's life, everything was truly and completely over.

Since the beginning of his life, there was always the promise of a fight looming in his immediate future.

As a small child it began as a fight to earn his father's respect. The original King Vegeta had no use for weaklings, especially when they were members of his family. Vegeta knew, even as the heir apparent he would be useless to his father if he was not strong . Anyone who doubted that only had to ask after Vegeta's brother Tarble, wherever he was.

That hard won strength had not made much of a difference when Frieza came along.

Then it was a fight to survive under Frieza's rule, the fight to purge planets, to raise in the ranks, high enough to be safe, and unspoken secret fight to hopefully, eventually become stronger than Frieza, strong enough to kill him, strong enough to take revenge on him for taking away his planet, and his birthright.

Then there was the fight on Earth, which he supposed had been the real turning point in his fairly monotonous life. That mission was supposed to be easy, kill the natives, get the dragon balls, and become immortal. It has seemed so simple, so easily within his grasp. Obviously the plans had changed, significantly.

Planet Namek had been nothing but fights, Dodoria, Zarbon, the Ginyu Force, and finally at long last a fight with Frieza

.

The fighting had only stopped when he was dead.

The news he received upon his resurrection had only strengthened his resolve and his greatest fight began, the fight to surpass Kakarot, to become a Super Saiyan, the fight to kill Kakarot and kill him for daring to achieve all of Vegeta's goals.

And Vegeta had achieved those goals one after another, he had become a Super Saiyan, he had surpassed all of his limitations and become the legendary warrior he was always meant to be.

Even though that strength had not made any difference when faced with the Androids or Cell.

Kakarot was gone. His brat had surpassed any and all limits that Vegeta had even imagined. 

And for the first time in his life Vegeta did not feel like fighting anymore.

For the first time in, well, forever, there was peace in Vegeta's foreseeable future if he chose to stay on earth.

Why even STAY on earth? He wondered to himself. What is there for me here now? True he had a lover, full of fire, and with a tantalizing stubbornness that made Vegeta wonder idly if she was not part Saiyan herself. But such trysts had never kept him on a planet before. He had to admit, while the woman, Bulma, was not the first lover he had taken on an alien planet, she was the most interesting and by far the smartest. And he had never had the future of a child to think about before.

Vegeta shook his head violently, such weak thoughts were unbecoming of him, the Prince of Saiyans, his people did not mate for life and they certainly did not take their mates or offspring into account when contemplating life or battle decisions. When had he soft enough as to entertain those ideas? Clearly the Earthlings were infecting him with their domestic sentiments. He should endeavor to leave Earth as soon as possible.

When had leaving earth become a painful thought instead of a desperate wish?

No. The real reason he had stayed was to defect Kakarot, to regain his honour. He had only stuck around the earth so long was to face the challenges it frequently presented to a warrior of his caliber. That was all there was to it, wasn't it?

Training on his own offered no relief and though the thought of combat did not rouse any excitement in Vegeta, he had no other outlet and needed a distraction from his own thoughts. He had never had to address his feelings; instead he had transformed them all into anger; using them as fuel to grow stronger, to push himself farther in his training. 

Earth, he had decided, was severely lacking in decent sparring partners. Kakarot's brat despite the raw power he had shown in the fight against Cell was; too unstable, too unpredictable. The Earthlings were less than useless, even as a group. 

Though their power levels were not remotely on par Vegeta supposed that he was the best option he had left. Despite the gulf in power somehow the Namek put up a consistently challenging fight. 

\---------

Piccolo sensed Vegeta approaching the lookout long before his arrival. He was not particularly shocked by the impending visit, though he was surprised at the raw aggression and the confusion that was evident in Vegeta's ki. He wondered offhandedly if Vegeta knew that he was projecting his feelings so plainly. Few people could determine emotion through ki, Piccolo was unsure if Vegeta was aware that it was possible to do. Considering Vegeta hadn't been able to sense ki upon his arrival to Earth Piccolo doubted he did. 

Uncrossing himself from the lotus position Piccolo crossed the rim of the Lookout to the direction Vegeta was approaching from and waited. He was not entirely sure what to expect upon arrival Vegeta had been….unstable, to say the least in the time since the fight with Cell and Son's decision to stay in the afterlife. 

Piccolo had been too busy dealing with Gohan's reaction to the news and trying to adjust Dende to the Earth and to his new duties to pay much attention to Vegeta's existential crisis. 

Besides any overt concern from his end would have been rejected, he knew what Vegeta was going through, but any advice from him would have only served to make him angrier. Unsolicited advice and Vegeta were a volatile combination. 

Vegeta landed on the lookout in a blaze of ki barley slowing his descent enough to avoid cracking the white tiles. Piccolo felt his eye twitch, whatever there was left of Kami in his subconscious felt VERY strongly about keeping the Lookout free of damage.

"Namek, fight me" Vegeta demanded, fists clenched and eyes blazing.

"Nice to see you too, Vegeta" Piccolo replied rolling his eyes. Vegeta looked like hell, his already messy hair was wild from the flight and he looked like he hadn't slept in a week, and if Piccolo's nose was anything to go by he also had not properly bathed in just as long. "If you'd like to spar we can, though we are not doing it here"

"Why in the hell not Namek?" Vegeta had not yet unclenched his fists, raw aggression apparent in every gesture.

"Because it is three in the goddamned morning, and the Lookout is not a battle ground, people live here and two of them are asleep." Piccolo doubted Vegeta would listen to reason, but he was not willing to deal with Mr. Popo learning he or Vegeta had destroyed the Lookout's gardens with a stray ki blast. "If you want to fight we can do it in the desert, like civilized aliens."

"The desert is freezing this time of night there is no way you are dragging me out there" Vegeta stared at Piccolo like he was insane for even proposing the location change.

Piccolo was shocked Vegeta had the forethought to argue against the desert based on the temperature. Being Namekian prevented Piccolo from feeling cold; he had forgotten how inconvenient other races could be.

"Fine then we can wait for dawn; if you want to spar with me so badly you can hold off for a few hours." Piccolo returned Vegeta's stare. They continued their silent battle of wills for several seconds before Vegeta snapped his head away.

"Have it your way Namek, if you want to stall and get your ass handed to you at dawn that is your prerogative. I will wait." Vegeta sat down on the tile roughly.

Piccolo was shocked at the acquiesce from Vegeta of all people. Piccolo figured he must be truly conflicted if immediate reaction had not been to lash out physically. 

Piccolo shook his head; unbidden the feelings after Son's first death returned to him. 

The confusion, the emptiness, the anger. How the quality of the anger had differed so drastically from the anger he had used to motivate his entire life. The eventual realization that finally killing Son had done nothing to improve his life, had done nothing to ease his crushing loneliness. He lacked an appropriate outlet for these feelings he had taken them out on Gohan during their training. Something in retrospect he was deeply ashamed of, even after years of unconditional love from Gohan. Eventually Gohan through sheer kindness had helped him come to terms, with the reality that having one friend was worth more than garnering fear and subjugation of millions of people. Gohan had continued to change him for the better as well as help him accept the idea that he had in some way fundamentally changed.

Piccolo had no idea how to help Vegeta. Even though they were so alike, there was no way to reach out to him. Having him within arm's reach away drove this point home. Vegeta was completely guarded mentally and physically.

Piccolo sighed as he sat down in his usual lotus position. Piccolo wondered to himself why he even felt the need to reach out to him? Perhaps this need to play therapist/ father figure was some undesired side effect of his fusion with Kami, he made a mental note to meditate on that at a later date. Perhaps with Son gone he was subconsciously trying to find another friend? 

In any case he would wait, strategy and patience, these were his strengths. Vegeta would crack before he did. Whether Vegeta cracked and asked for advice or cracked and blew up the Lookout remained to be seen. Though Piccolo had a feeling it would be the former. Vegeta even coming to the Lookout had been a big step.

Vegeta was fuming. It had been an hour and the idiot Namekian had not moved or acknowledged his presence once since their initial conversation upon his arrival. He had come for a spar, the only thing Piccolo was remotely decent for, and had been completely rebuffed. Vegeta had come here to punch things until his head was clear, to lose himself in battle, not sit in silence and continue to dwell. Being ignored was not something Vegeta could handle on a good day, let alone right now.

_ 'I should destroy this stupid floating palace'  _ he thought. Though he knew it would not bring him any satisfaction. This knowledge threw him even further into confusion. When had destruction failed to cheer him up? Even the thought of it usually brought him joy. How had that idiot's death confused everything so significantly? How did Kakarot have such a hold on him?

Vegeta once again focused on staring at Piccolo. He knew the Namek could feel his stare, yet he continued to sit with his eyes closed and his head bowed. 

Years ago, he recalled Piccolo telling him about how he used to desire Kakarot's death, how he had also fought to defeat him and to surpass him. At the time he had thought the Namek was playing some grand joke on him, pretending to understand him. Later he had consulted with the woman, asking her outright who the fuck the Demon King Piccolo had been. She looked shocked that he would ask but had dug up her scrapbooks from that time. He remembered seeing the newspapers and reports confirming what Piccolo had said. Including one particularly gruesome photo of a younger Kakarot punching through the chest of who he could only assume was the Namek's father.

_ 'How did you do it?' _ Vegeta thought, staring at Piccolo,  _ 'how did you let go of a lifetime of anger and just accept that you would never kill Kakarot. never reclaim your honour' _ On some level Vegeta admitted if anyone could help him puzzle through his feelings it was the Namek, but he would rather die than ask for help.

"It wasn't easy, you know," Piccolo said suddenly opening one eye "getting over wanting to kill Son, giving up on being angry."

"WHAT THE HELL NAMEK!" Vegeta yelled jumping to his feet "ARE YOU READING MY MIND?"

"No." Piccolo said completely deadpan "your facial expressions and ki are doing a fantastic job of letting me know what you're thinking."

Vegeta's eyes bored into Piccolo's as he turned a fantastic shade of maroon. He could see Piccolo bracing for impact; the Namekian was going to regret trying to relate to Vegeta. 

He felt the familiar rage rushing up inside him, the rage that accompanied anyone questioning his pride, or his utter, superiority. Vegeta felt comforted at its presence, rage he could understand, sympathy was a foreign concept. Surprisingly, he felt the rage rush out of him as suddenly as it had appeared.

What would punishing the Namek prove? What good was any of the anger, what use was his pride when the only man he had wanted to defeat was beyond his reach? Would killing the Namek mean killing one of the few people on this mud ball he respected, even remotely?

_ 'When the hell did I start considering the Namek someone I respected, shit, since when do I respect anyone?  _

Vegeta sat down heavily once again on the tiles of the Lookout. He looked at the Namek and was amused to see a look of genuine shock on his face. Normally Piccolo's emotions were impossible to determine from his facial expression. Such blatant surprise was hilarious.

He watched the Namek's expression return to normal. "If you ever tell anyone what you think, I thought, which I in fact did NOT think, I will end you." Vegeta said offhandedly.

"Noted,"

"So how did you do it then," Vegeta continued, "how did you go on knowing that you would never be able to kill him knowing you would never reclaim the honour you lost, the honour he took from you, God, how do you continue to go on when everyone around you surpasses you in strength? You are essentially useless at this point."

Piccolo again was completely shocked; he was not entirely prepared to hear Vegeta speak so candidly. Though he supposed exhaustion and grief had a fair bit to do with this conversation. 

Appreciating the point that Vegeta must have been pushed to that he was willing to open up, even a little. He chose to ignore the rather pointed comment at the end regarding his own power level and ineffectiveness. All of the old Piccolo's instincts told him to respond sarcastically, to make light of the question. But that was the old Piccolo. He knew now this was a terrible idea, Vegeta had been forthright, and he owed him the same courtesy.

"You start by realizing that there is more to life than fighting to win. You continue by realizing that finding something to protect and fighting for that is much more valuable. And you arrive at the conclusion that being an evil asshole didn't make you very happy in the first place. As for honour, when I lost that fight with Son I had no real honour, I was a desperate, violent child. Interacting with Son and Gohan, fighting for the Earth and my home world, dying for my best friend, those are the things that gave me honour. Or as close to it as someone like me came to it anyway. "

"Sentimental crap," Vegeta said quietly, though it made him think back to the fight with Cell, when Trunks had been killed. How his power had meant nothing in the face of being unable to prevent or avenge his death. "You'll never hear me spouting such drivel," Vegeta continued thinking of his infant son and how one day the same thing may happen if he was not strong enough.

"Perhaps not" Piccolo looked out at the sunrise coming up over the edge of the lookout. "I thought the same thing once. I eventually figured out it was better to work with Son then against him. Being friends with him was much more rewarding than wanting to kill him. Take it from me, even when you kill him it backfires on you in the end."

"How so?"

"Well in my experience killing him only prevented him from killing you and Nappa before you could kill me." Piccolo smirked at Vegeta.

Vegeta shook his head; remembering Kakarot showing up seconds after Nappa had finished off Piccolo. Vegeta wondered how the Namek could joke about his death in such a way. He wondered how he could even speak to him. Perhaps as a fellow former earth conquering villain Piccolo could appreciate giving people a second chance? Perhaps dying knowing you were eventually being brought back cheapened the whole experience? Likely the Namek was insane.

"I can't imagine being friends with that idiot being particularly rewarding" Vegeta raised an eyebrow at Piccolo daring him to disagree.

"It wasn't always easy," Piccolo admitted "I imagine it made me a better person in the end, or something."

"Besides," Vegeta went on "all this high and mighty talk about finding something to fight for and protect, I saw what happened with Cell, you couldn't protect Gohan any more then I could protect Trunks. What good is letting go of your anger if it makes no difference in the end."

Vegeta watched Piccolo's expression darken. He had hit a nerve bringing up Gohan, it was a surefire way to make the Namek upset. Vegeta would never admit to him that he had, in some small way, admired how he had entered the fight with Cell, fully knowing he was going to die to protect Gohan. He wanted to hear his answer.

"I suppose in the end I couldn't do much directly to protect him, no," Piccolo's expression was pained as he admitted this, "though considering I was the one who trained him in the first place, I imagine I am allowed to take partial credit for that victory. Besides if I hadn't stopped wanting to kill Son long enough to train Gohan none of that would have been possible."

"Hmph" was Vegeta's only response.

"I imagine I won't be a particularly good teacher anymore though," Piccolo admitted sadly "I imagine you'd have more luck trying to help him control his transformations, to be honest. "

"Me?" Vegeta was slightly disbelieving the Namek would let him near Kakarot's brat, let alone seriously spar with him. Vegeta realized, even though the brat was stronger than the both of them, letting anyone fight with Gohan was a big deal to Piccolo. "If you think I am going to become some kind of glorified babysitter you are sorely mistaken!"

"I suppose not, besides eventually you'll have your own son to train, I was merely saying that you could train Gohan, eventually once he can control his power he will be an amazing sparring partner and you won't have to come annoy me whenever you need to work out your emotional issues." Piccolo smirked.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes, he knew the Namek was pandering to his pride, but he did have a point. Training the brat now may prove a good investment in the future. "I may, eventually, entertain the idea."

They sat in silence together for a few moments. Vegeta glanced at Piccolo every few seconds trying to decipher what he was thinking. "What the hell do you do when all the fighting stops anyway? I have never had to think particularly far beyond my next battle, I always assumed I would be dead before any kind of a break in the fighting."

"I actually have no idea" Piccolo laughed, shaking his head, "I don't think there has ever been a time where there has been a promise of an extended period of peace like this. Though I am a pessimist. I'm sure some intergalactic freak show will come by and ruin things before very long."

Vegeta nodded in agreement. He wasn't used to the Namek and himself speaking so freely. Usually any limited conversation they had was concealed in sarcasm. Speaking so candidly was unsettling, but also slightly comforting. He respected the Namek, even if he would not ever admit it, he was sure Piccolo knew.

"Enough of this emotional crap, its dawn Namek, you owe me a fight." Vegeta stood up starching his legs after the extended period of sitting.

"Mhm, hold that thought" Piccolo raised a hand pointing to the West, "Gohan will be here soon he may want to join."

Vegeta turned to the West beginning to sense the brat's ki coming toward them. "Fine, the two of you may put up a decent challenge for a Saiyan elite such as myself."

They both stood in silence as Gohan neared the Lookout and landed close to Piccolo.

"Good morning Mr. Piccolo!" Gohan ran toward his teacher smiling. Vegeta saw Piccolo give Gohan a small smile before his face resumed its normal, neutral state. "And good morning to you Mr. Vegeta," Gohan said, bowing to him before turning his full attention back to Piccolo.

"What brings you here so early Gohan?" Piccolo turned his attention fully to the child as he spoke to him. Vegeta noticed how different the Namek's stature was with Gohan present, how at ease he seemed around him. He also noted the way Gohan looked at Piccolo with such obvious reverence. Vegeta allowed himself to wonder if one day his own son would look at him the same way. 

"So about that spar Vegeta," Piccolo said, turning back to Vegeta, "Gohan and I are ready when you are." Piccolo smiled threateningly, making sure to show every fang, and Gohan beamed at him genuinely excited at the chance at a friendly spar with Vegeta.

"Unlike you weaklings," Vegeta relied haughtily, "I am always ready for a fight"

\------------

As he flew home he smirked to himself. Vegeta would never admit it, but the Namek had helped him. The hollow feeling was still there but it had lessened. Though, he admitted to himself he would never fully let it go, the need to kill Kakarot, to settle their score. It seemed his vow to never fight again was a short lived one; he had been fooling himself when he had said that, fighting was in his blood, it was the last and perhaps the most important legacy of his race.

For now, he would help the Namek train Kakarot's brat, to teach him to control his anger. The spar that earlier proved to Vegeta that Gohan would in time become a worthy opponent. But he would continue to train himself as well.

As the Namek himself had once said, no one on Earth stayed dead for very long. He would see Kakarot again one day, and he would settle the score and in the end when he was victorious, he may choose not to return him to the afterlife. Maybe.

A/N:

I tried to write from Vegeta's perspective more here, which was not easy since I am not used to writing Vegeta, let alone the elusive introspective Vegeta.

I hope I did an okay job capturing him, or at least how he would behave in this part of the series.

I also tried to capture the quiet confidence I think Piccolo gained in this part of the series. Every fanfiction author has their own headcanon for how the fusions work. Mine being that the strongest, and the best, aspects of both Kami and Nail subtly influence the whole of Piccolo. Not so much their literal consciousness but their spirits, essences? 

I am still doing some rewrites on the next few chapters and should have them up shortly. 

  
  


-V


	3. Big Damn Hero's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick AN, 
> 
> This takes place after the Super Android 13 movie . Having seen the movie is not necessary, but it helps. Skipping this will not negatively impact the overall arc of the story. But I do think it's a pretty fun addition. Even though it fits nowhere in the cannon timeline. Also since this was written in 2015 the Brolly movie referenced is the original one. 

\------------------

To any onlooker it was an impressive scene, two of the planet's strongest warriors resting together after a hard won battle.

For Piccolo and Vegeta, being forced to share a glacier floating in the middle of the ocean after having their ki thoroughly depleted by the Spirit Bomb, was uncomfortable, to say the least. Knowing their 'friends' had probably left the battlefield without giving them a second thought, they were forced to wait together before flying their separate ways.

While no longer bitter enemies neither of them considered the other a friend and both preferred their own company and space. The cramped quarters made them both uncomfortable and put them on edge.

'Well this is boring' thought Piccolo, normally he would have meditated to pass the time, but he was too exhausted to try to achieve the level of concentration that meditation would require. He was also distracted by the brooding spiky haired egomaniac in his immediate vicinity. He decided that if he couldn't meditate he would default to another activity he enjoyed, provoking Vegeta. Besides he had been wondering about something that seemed common in all their recent fights.

"You know," Piccolo began putting on an intentionally condescending tone, "I never understand why you don't just go Super Saiyan at the beginning of the fights, you guys waste so much time getting the crap beaten out of you before remembering you can achieve a massive power up. It's absurd" Piccolo said, trying to get a rise out of Vegeta.

Vegeta knew the Namek was baiting him, but he was also not letting him get away with a statement like that. Besides, arguing was better than sitting in the freezing cold in complete silence.

'Well" he began, equally condescending "I don't get why you only show up when Kakarot's brat is in danger, do you just sit around waiting for someone to hit the kid before making your entrance? By the way coming up through the ground that was stupid, what good did any of that do?" Vegeta got the desired result, he felt the Namek stiffen. Mentioning Gohan was a surefire way to get a response. Vegeta smirked to himself.

"They can't sense energy so I had the element of surprise, unlike some people who showed up to the fight by bursting through a fucking glacier."

"Shut the hell up Namek, like you can talk, you are the king of dramatic entrances you usually rush in, cape dramatically blowing in the wind, you enjoy swishing around in that thing way too much."

Vegeta conjured up an image of the Namek practicing his entrances and laughed to himself.

"At least I'm the King of something, and I don't make prissy speeches on arrival about how I am ONLY HERE TO KILL KAKAROT, I at least admit I'm there to watch out for Gohan."

Though they were still sitting back to back, Piccolo could feel the waves of anger coming off Vegeta. ' _ The truth hurts doesn't it Vegeta?' _ Piccolo thought smiling to himself.

"Prissy speech? Watch your mouth Namek. I was only there to make sure that bucket of tin was not going to kill Kakarot, that is my job. Kakarot is mine. Mark my words I am only there to ensure I deliver the blow that ends that idiot's life not some robotic toy." Vegeta crossed his arms

'How dare he question my intentions' Vegeta fumed inwardly .

"You really need to watch how you phrase your death threats, that sentence can be taken all sorts of ways." Piccolo chuckled to himself.

Vegeta glared over his shoulder at the Namek whose back was turned, and wondered if punching him would topple the glacier or break it in half. Deciding the potential swim was not worth it Vegeta seethed silently. For a time they sat in silence on the iceberg, trying to forget the other was there while they regained their ki.

Piccolo felt Vegeta's glare, 'Well at least he understands double entendre, he's not as dumb as I thought' Piccolo crossed his arms assuming their conversation was over, he wondered if he had pushed Vegeta a bit too far.

"You know what I never understood Namek…" Vegeta said softly. Piccolo's ears twitched in response, surprised Vegeta had willingly chosen to continue their awkward, cramped conversation. "Why doesn't Kakarot just use the goddamned Spirit Bomb at the beginning of the fight. He always ends up doing it. It would save all of us a lot of time if he just started the fight with the thing. "

"You're right…..that would make everything so much easier," Piccolo responded. It was Vegeta's turn to be surprised the Namek rarely admitted he was right about anything. "Dr Wheelo, Turles, Lord Slug, Brolly, this guy. I mean, the attack would probably be way more effective if he asked for our energy before we got the shit kicked out of us. King Kai was an idiot to teach that attack to Son and not someone with a functioning brain."

"Speak for yourself Namek, I was barley bruised by that idiotic Tin Man" Vegeta scoffed.

"Sure Vegeta, whatever you say," Piccolo let that comment slide, he knew Vegeta was as injured as he was, but unlike Piccolo, Vegeta would be in pain a lot longer, Saiyans did not heal as quickly or as effectively as Nameks.

"Anyway," Piccolo continued, "as much as I'd love to continue floating with you on a frozen chunk of ice I am about ready to fly the hell out of here. This conversation, is it over?"

"Not till the fish jumps" replied Vegeta, dead serious. Piccolo was just about to ask him what that even meant, when a large fish leapt out of the water next to them.

"It's over"

As Piccolo flew home, he wondered just how hard Vegeta had been hit in the head by Android 13.

  
  



	4. Byronic Heroes

Piccolo did not 'miss people.' Missing people was an unnecessary human affectation that he had no use for, he had lived his early years in complete solitude and his idea of a perfect day was meditating in complete silence. No Piccolo did not 'miss people'; he thought firmly to himself as he flew down from the Lookout, he was beyond such feelings.

Besides if he was going to miss anyone it would have been Gohan, but Gohan, despite deciding to ease off his training after the Cell Games had always made time for Piccolo, visiting him at the Lookout or by his waterfall, or in the desert. Even now, a month after they had defeated Buu, Gohan came to see him.

'To be fair' Piccolo thought 'these days he spends most of the visits talking about that short haired female'

Piccolo smiled to himself, Gohan deserved to be happy, and for whatever reason Gohan seemed happy with the girl. In Piccolo's opinion she resembled his mother too much, loud, opinionated and bossy. Piccolo reasoned it was some defective family trait that Gohan and Son shared that led them to enjoy being pushed around.

No, Gohan was all the company Piccolo needed, he thought as he grew closer to his destination. Other friendships while, pleasant, were unnecessary.

Well, maybe he had also missed Son after his death, not much though, only a little, barely at all. It was only natural that he had noticed Son's absence after his death. He had been living with the idiot for three years prior to the Cell Games and had spent most days with him training. After he had died it would be impossible not to notice his absence, of course Piccolo had noticed his absence, in the same way that you would notice a loud noise that constantly followed you around being suddenly shut off. Maybe it was a bit lonely losing Son, Piccolo allowed himself to admit, since Son had been one of two few people who had looked at him without suspicion or fear, who had believed that he was better than he thought he was. Piccolo reasoned that believing the best in former megalomaniac villains was another defective family trait shared between Gohan, Son and most recently Goten.

But Son had come back to life recently and had resumed interrupting Piccolo's life. In the last month since Son had been resurrected he had seamlessly managed to upset Piccolo's routine as if he had not been dead for over seven years, coming to ask him to spar, or to go fishing, or to join his family for dinner.

The Son family were expectations however, Piccolo thought firmly, there was no one else on this planet he was capable of missing,

So why in hell am I here? Piccolo thought to himself as he landed outside of Capsule Corp.

Sure Dende had needed to return some scientific thing to Bulma and Piccolo had volunteered to do it. Piccolo's offer had surprised Dende since the last time he had asked Piccolo to deliver something for him the response had been something along the lines of:

"I am not a fucking delivery service, get Popo to do it"

To be fair, Piccolo reasoned, he had only agreed since Dende and Popo had been busy trying to put the world back in order after the whole Buu incident. He had certainly not agreed since he was likely to run into Vegeta at Capsule Corp. No that thought had not even crossed his mind, not even once.

Sure, Piccolo had not seen or spoken to Vegeta in over a month, not since everyone had been reunited on the lookout after being wished back after Son had killed Kid Buu. Which had been the longest Piccolo had gone without seeing Vegeta in the last seven years. Though Piccolo had barely noticed, the absence of their bi-weekly sparring sessions had been annoying, but Piccolo missed the sparring, he certainly did not miss Vegeta.

Piccolo sighed. And prepared to knock on the door, he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. Before he could knock the door opened automatically with a soft whoosh to reveal a startled looking Bulma.

"Piccolo?" she started confused.

"Yes" Piccolo said, hoping his usual neutral expression would hide his momentary shock of the door opening so suddenly "Dende asked me to deliver this….thing..... to you" he finished holding out a medium sized metal box.

"Oh yeah, I forgot I even lent that to him, thanks Piccolo" Bulma said brightly taking the box, then immediately bowing under the weight of the thing " Oh crap, I also forgot how heavy the damn thing is, you want to help me take it back into the lab?" Piccolo grunted noncommittally but took the box from Bulma easily holding it under one arm.

"Thanks follow me" she said turning into the complex weaving down long corridors past an insane amount of doors and hallways.

Piccolo followed, he was not especially happy to be indoors. Human dwellings always made him feel awkward and oversized. Even though he had magicked away his shoulder armor before entering the house he was still seven feet tall and quite broad. The few times he had been forced to come to Capsule Corp for picnics by Gohan he had very consciously stayed outdoors. As they walked Bulma explained the device and its many uses to Piccolo who heard most of the explanation and absorbed none of the information. Eventually Bulma led him into a large concrete area filled with tools and workbenches Piccolo could only assume was the lab.

"Thanks again Piccolo, just put it down anywhere there's room"

Piccolo scanned the room which was in a state of complete disarray with tools and machine bits littering almost every surface, eventually deciding to put the box down next to a workbench in the far corner. As Piccolo turned to leave Vegeta nonchalantly walked into the room, Piccolo cursed himself wondering how he had not noticed Vegeta's chi, though to be fair both of them had masked their power levels. Piccolo thought he did an admirable job of keeping his expression neutral despite an odd momentary impulse to smile at Vegeta.

"Namek" there was no smile but a slight nod acknowledging Piccolo's presence.

"Vegeta" Piccolo said with a similar nod in Vegeta's direction.

"Oh Vegeta," Bulma said walking next to Vegeta and giving him an affectionate squeeze on the arm, "Piccolo was just here dropping off something for Dende, anyway I am going to get dinner started, we need to eat early since I'm taking Trunks and Goten to the amusement park tonight." Bulma smiled at them both before leaving the room and hummed as she walked down the hall.

"So the other Namek has you playing post-boy? I'm amazed you agreed" Vegeta said, raising an eyebrow and crossing his arms.

Piccolo glared at him, the tips of his ears and his cheeks flushing purple. Piccolo took a breath forcing himself to calm down. Vegeta could not possibly know about that stupid shirt, Piccolo reasoned to himself, he wasn't even on the planet when the whole idiotic driver's license debacle had taken place. Just in case Piccolo reminded himself to burn that shirt for good measure the next time he was at the Son residence.

Vegeta stared at Piccolo, knowing he had hit a nerve, Piccolo was not normally so expressive, but not knowing what had set him off. He decided he would ask the woman about this later.

Piccolo regained his composure quickly. "Well, I have a lot to do back at the Lookout, I'll be on my way" he said, turning back to walk toward the entrance.

"Hmm" Vegeta replied, arms still crossed.

Piccolo could tell Vegeta was thinking about something, part of him wanted to ask, he stopped himself knowing Vegeta would not appreciate his prying.

"Namek," Vegeta said quietly as Piccolo was entering the hallway knowing Piccolo's hearing would pick up the noise, "I will see you on Tuesday, to spar."

Piccolo turned and nodded, then continued down the hall and out of the building. As he took to the air to fly back toward the Lookout he was surprised to find that he was smiling.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vegeta located the Namek's ki and flew toward it as the sun rose. The Namek had already found a suitable training ground for their spar that day. For as long as they had been having their bi-weekly spars Piccolo had chosen the training grounds. The only exceptions had been when Vegeta had explicitly invited him to train in the Gravity Chamber though the Namek had always seemed off during those fights, although he had never complained or said anything Vegeta had figured out that noise of the machinery was too loud for sensitive hearing. After that Vegeta had never brought up the gravity room again. Not to be kind to the Namek, he just couldn't stand not having his opponent at full strength. As Vegeta flew over the grasslands toward the ki signature he wondered, not for the first time, if the Namek had some sort of encyclopedic knowledge of all the abandoned wastelands on this planet.

He eventually located him in the middle of a large grassland area devoid of trees. As Vegeta dropped out of the sky to the ground he was not surprised to see the Namek meditating, eyes closed and floating a good two feet above the ground. Though the Namek did not acknowledge his arrival, Vegeta knew he was aware of his presence. In the beginning Vegeta had been annoyed at being ignored, no one ignored the Prince of all Saiyans, and had tried all manner of things to snap Piccolo out of his meditations. The only time he had succeeded he had whistled loudly directly into the Namek's ear. The result had been hilarious; Piccolo had fallen out of his meditation, literally, and glared daggers at Vegeta. He smiled at the memory, he was half tempted to try it again, though he remembered seeing the blood pouring out of Piccolo's ears after the incident and decided against it. Hurting the Namek in a spar was one thing rupturing his eardrums for his own amusement was another.

Vegeta had long ago gotten over being initially ignored by the Namek, apparently coming out a deep meditation took time, or so the Namek said, and Vegeta was in no particular rush to start today, though he had not been consciously avoiding the Namek, he was apprehensive. He sat down heavily next to the meditating figure and lay on his back watching the sun finish rising and waiting for the Namek to rejoin the world.

Piccolo felt Vegeta's chi arriving and began to end his meditation. He was never sure how patient Vegeta would be with him and his need to slowly end a deep meditation. He could sense Vegeta sitting next to him as he slowly lowered himself out of his meditative position, he could also feel waves of agitation coming from Vegeta's ki. As Piccolo opened his eyes, adjusting them to the sunlight he saw Vegeta laying seemingly contentedly looking up at the sky, he knew better than to let the posture fool him, something was bothering Vegeta.

Though Piccolo and Vegeta didn't talk often, over the last few years, there had been times where they had, guardedly, spoken about themselves. It was sporadic and was usually brought on by some outside event, but it did happen. Piccolo was sensing that this was one of those times. He would be the first person to admit he wasn't particularly adept at analyzing social cues, analyzing cues in battle was easy, but social situations remained foreign to him. He did however know Vegeta and his body language fairly well. Piccolo supposed that it had to do with the amount of time they had spent together; you don't see someone more than once a week for seven years and remain complete strangers.

"Nice of you to wake up, Namek."

"Nice of you to show up, Vegeta."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow "If I didn't know any better I'd say you missed me."

" Good thing you know better," Piccolo shot back " besides if that shit with Buu taught us anything it's that we need to keep training."

Vegeta paused and looked to the sky, "Yeah about that, alright Namek, I know it's coming just get it out of your system now and we can get this over with."

Piccolo stared at Vegeta, genuinely confused "What the hell are you talking about?"

Vegeta looked at him angrily "You have nothing you want to say regarding Buu? Nothing that you want to lecture me about?"

Piccolo shook his head slowly; maybe he had been wrong about being able to read Vegeta. He had no idea what he was on about.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?" Vegeta roared standing up and beginning to pace back and forth. "I basically let myself get brainwashed by an evil wizard to settle a stupid grudge which resulted in me killing hundreds of innocent people and allowing Majin Buu to be resurrected. I almost kill Kakarot, and then go fight a battle on my own and get myself killed. After all of this, NO ONE MENTIONS ANYTHING! I come back to life and you people act like nothing happened. I mean even Bulma didn't say anything, Bulma! The woman yelled at me for an HOUR once for not folding towels properly. Yet she fails to mention anything relating to this. How is all of this so easily forgiven?"

Piccolo stared for a moment, wondering what to say, or if he should say anything at all. Sometimes it was easier to let Vegeta rant to himself for a while.

"Well Namek? I asked you a question!" Vegeta stood next to him, arms crossed.

Apparently this was a rant that required a response. Piccolo bit back a sigh. "To be fair you were under the spell of an evil wizard, so there is that." Piccolo replied shrugging.

"Really that's ALL you have to say? I brought that on myself Namek, I could have tried harder to fight him off, I was too focused on trying to kill Kakarot at the tournament to even try." Vegeta scoffed.

"Well…." Piccolo started slowly, "… there is a pretty long precedent of people trying to kill Son at the World Martial Arts Tournament. I mean, when I did it, I blew up the entire stadium, and blasted a hole through Son's chest. No one really mentions that anymore." Piccolo smirked at the memory, he wasn't proud of that time in his life, though it was interesting to remember a time where he and Son were evenly matched in combat "Honestly if I had been in the ship I can't be sure he would not have been able to control my mind. We're warriors Vegeta, we don't let go of defeat easily."

Vegeta shook his head "Even without Babadi's influence I still would have put my grudge against Kakarot and my pride ahead of the well-being of the universe."

Piccolo snorted "This isn't exactly the first time you've done that, that stunt you pulled letting Cell absorb Android 18 comes to mind. You want me to lecture you for being prideful and selfish? They're basically your core personality traits. You've never beat yourself up over it before? Why start now?"

Vegeta glared, but didn't argue. The Namek had a point. Had everyone just come to expect him acting selfishly and somehow tolerated him in spite of it? Why had he always taken this for granted previously?

Piccolo continued ignoring Vegeta's glare, "the point is, even after all that you sacrificed yourself to try and take down Buu, then came back and helped Son save the earth. That matters more, the good ends outweighing the bad. The Dragonballs can fix the collateral; you helped make sure there was a universe left to save."

"I suppose, you know you people and your capacity to forgive is insane." Vegeta sighed, sitting down again

"As someone who also benefits from being forgiven of past crimes I really can't complain" Piccolo finished shrugging.

They sat together in silence for a moment or two longer, Piccolo not entirely sure what to say and Vegeta not entirely sure how to continue.

Vegeta wasn't sure if he had ever apologized to the Namek, Hell he wasn't entirely sure he had ever apologized to anyone that wasn't Trunks or Bulma and even that was a recent phenomenon. Though he wouldn't admit it, what the Namek had just said had eased his mind significantly. He had come expecting a lecture; Piccolo had never been shy about letting Vegeta know he had fucked up in the past. He had been avoiding him because he did not know how to address the other thing that happened during the fight. Vegeta took a breath, it was perhaps easier just to say it and see what happened.

"I'm sorry."

"What?" Piccolo rarely doubted his hearing, but he could not have heard that right. Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans did not apologize.

"Don't make me repeat myself Namek!" Vegeta shouted, turning red.

"Okay, about what?" Piccolo was genuinely confused, was he apologizing for avoiding him? Of all the things Vegeta had done that warranted apology why was this the time he said it?

Vegeta rolled his eyes. All this time dreading apologizing and the idiot Namekian didn't even understand. "About Gohan."

Immediately Vegeta got a reaction, though not the reaction he had been expecting. Instead of yelling at him and blaming him for letting Gohan get injured, the Namek had turned a shade lighter and was staring intently staring at the ground. After what felt like an eternity the Namek finally spoke.

"You have nothing to apologize for," Piccolo said quietly, slowly, "it was my fault Gohan got hurt. If I hadn't been so weak and unprepared, if I hadn't let Dabura surprise me…. I could have been there….he wouldn't have been hurt."

Vegeta shook his head though he doubted the Namek had noticed. Piccolo was still staring down; Vegeta noticed his fists were clenched so tightly his palms were beginning to bleed. 

"No, Namek that's insane, how the hell were you supposed to know being spit on would turn you into stone? It was me being an idiot and insisting on fighting Kakarot that caused Gohan to go up alone against Buu. You had nothing to do with it." Vegeta expected the Namek to agree with him, to blame him, to yell at him. To do something, but Piccolo didn't move.

"It's my job to protect Gohan, and I failed. No one else is to blame." Piccolo said, his deep voice resonating, fists still clenched. Vegeta had been expecting a bad reaction from the Namek. It was part of the reason he had avoided him this past month. He had been reluctant to mention the situation at all, he had assumed the Namek would lash out at him, but this reaction, this self-hatred was far worse.

"Look…. Namek, if you can forgive me for basically dooming the Universe, again, because of my pride, you should be able to forgive yourself for this. Gohan is strong; if he gets hurt it can't always be your fault." Vegeta ran his fingers through his stiff hair wondering if he got through to the Namek at all, Piccolo was much better at giving advice.

Vegeta watched as the Namek sighed deeply and released some of the tension in his fists.

"Maybe you're right, Vegeta. Maybe….." Piccolo trailed off.

"Of course I'm right Namek, I, Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans, am incapable of being wrong." Vegeta wore his most arrogant expression and glanced sideways at Piccolo raising an eyebrow.

Piccolo rolled his eyes but couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from tugging upwards, "Of course, clearly I am mistaken." he said.

"You know Namek, for the longest time I thought you were a complete idiot for throwing yourself in front of Nappa's blast to save Kakarot's brat, absolutely insane." Vegeta thought back to that moment, Piccolo clearly knew he couldn't survive the blast but he died for some child, one that clearly was not his progeny. Vegeta whose entire life had been geared toward surviving battles had been baffled; he had rarely seen a warrior as powerful as the Namek act so selflessly.

Piccolo laughed lowly to himself, "Yes I remember you saying something to that effect previously, I also remember you saying you would never do something so stupid."

Vegeta rolled his eyes, "I suppose my perspective was a bit different back then."

"I know that feeling; I remember thinking Son was an idiot for sacrificing himself to kill Raditz, though to be fair to you, for a split second before Nappa's blast hit me I thought I was an idiot too. But seeing Gohan survive that battle made it worth it, even if I had never come back to life and ended up in hell it would have been worth it." Piccolo closed his eyes and sighed.

"I feel very much the same, though things turned out alright this time" Vegeta looked at Piccolo who seemed more relaxed. Vegeta was surprised how relieved he felt, as much as he was loath to admit it, the idea that Piccolo had been angry at him had been annoying. He didn't have many people on the planet he could stand to be around. Losing one of them would have been inconvenient.

"You got off easy, after that whole speech we had about being reincarnated and having to go to hell, you managed to come back to life, hell you probably spent the least amount of time in the afterlife out of any of us." Piccolo punched Vegeta affably on the arm.

"Get the hell off me Namek," Vegeta said, swatting Piccolo away half-seriously. They sat again in silence. Though this time the silence was more amicable.

"Also, while I am here I suppose I should thank you."

Piccolo snorted "First you apologize and now you're thanking me, I am shocked that the Prince of all Saiyans can do either of those things."

"Shut the hell up Namek, don't make me regret trying to be nice to you." Vegeta snapped turning red. "I only intended to thank you for taking care of my son in my absence,"

Piccolo snorted "Oh that? I don't deserve thanks; I deserve some kind of medal. I thought training Gohan was bad, your kid is strong, I'll give him that, but the lack of discipline is going to get in the way of any real skill."

Vegeta's first reaction was to hit Piccolo for insinuating his child was anything less than perfect, except he knew he was right. His son was a brat sometimes and even had trouble training him. He didn't want to imagine what it was like for Piccolo to try and train both his son and Kakarot's brat at once.

"You know you're right Namek, unfortunately I am hopeless at training children, but you…."

"I don't know if I like where this conversation is heading…" Piccolo said eyes narrowed

"You trained Kakarot's brat, are you saying my son isn't good enough to be trained by you? Admit you'd be a much better teacher for him then I would be." Vegeta shot back.

"Well obviously I would be a better teacher but…" Piccolo started.

"Perfect I knew you'd agree" Vegeta said quickly cutting him off. "When can you start?"

Piccolo made a noise halfway between a sigh and a grunt and began to massage his temples. "Fine, fine I'll train him, just promise me I will never have to train him and Goten at the same time ever again."

"I promise" Vegeta smiled

"And promise me you and your wife won't get in my way, I train Trunks any way I see fit." Piccolo stared pointedly at Vegeta who continued to smile.

"You have my word Namek." Vegeta held out his hand and he and Piccolo shook on the terms of their agreement.

Neither of them noticed a faint shimmer in the air behind them.

"What are you guys doing?" Goku asked, instantly appearing behind Piccolo and Vegeta. Piccolo only sighed, having gotten used to Sons' instant transmission while training for the androids. Vegeta however screamed and jumped straight into the air landing in a battle stance.

"KAKAROT, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING" he shouted staring bug eyed at Goku "Are you THAT ready to go back to the Otherworld? Because if you pull that shit again I will kill you!"

Piccolo stifled a laugh; Goku only looked confused at the outburst.

"Well I felt the two of you together and I thought 'Oh great they're going to spar I should join,' but then your chi's stayed low so I wondered what you were up to sitting quietly talking together for so long, then I figured I should leave you guys alone to talk, BUT THEN I thought maybe you were planning my birthday party, so I came to tell you my birthday isn't for at least four months so you really shouldn't plan this far in advance, we should just spar instead." Goku smiled looking at both of them expectantly. "Well?"

"Wha- " Piccolo began, then stopped. He had almost forgotten how inane Son could be at times. Yes there were moments when he swore the man was brilliant, the brief intuitive flashes that Son had in battle or in conversation that made him think he had a brain. Then, then there were these moments, where he wondered if there was anything going on in his head at all.

Vegeta only looked at him, eyes wide, and mouth agape. "Kakarot, why the fuck would we be planning your birthday party?"

Goku managed to look completely surprised and completely hurt at the same time. "Well you aren't sparring? Why else would my two best friends be sitting here talking to each other?"

"Two-" Piccolo started,

"Best friends?!" Vegeta finished,

"Well yeah, you guys are my two best friends!" Goku smiled.

Piccolo rolled his eyes; Vegeta's reaction was significantly more dramatic. "We. Are. Not. Best. Friends" he said slowly through clenched teeth."

"Well if I'm not your best friend who is?" Goku said seriously, arms crossed.

"God, I don't know probably Piccolo, honestly anyone but you Kakarot" Vegeta screamed, a moment later he realized what he had said and turned white. He turned slowly and glared at Piccolo, who looked equally shocked and raised his hands in mock defense.

"Ooooh" Goku smiled "that makes sense, no wonder you were talking for so long!"

"Kakarot, I was merely…..merely being sarcastic! I refuse to take part in this idiotic conversation any longer." Vegeta glowered at Goku who returned the stare equally as seriously. Piccolo was not entirely sure who threw the first punch but before he could blink both Son and Vegeta had turned Super Saiyan and had launched into the air. As they traded blows above him Piccolo sighed and slowly removed his weighted training clothes.

"I'm not entirely sure how or where, I went wrong. I went from trying to kill the both of them to being called their best friends." Piccolo thought to himself shaking his head "I will never let Vegeta live this down."

Piccolo powered up and looked for an opening to attack Son or Vegeta who were grappling mid-air. Smiling as they traded blows. Piccolo felt oddly excited at the prospect of sparring with the both of them again. And for a moment he allowed himself to admit that he had missed seeing Vegeta, if only a little.

A/N.

I wanted this last bit to be more comedic in tone and to mirror the first chapter, bring us all around full circle. I wrote this chapter with the firm belief that Piccolo and Vegeta were close friends, but also uncomfortable admitting that they were close friends.

One more mini chapter to go and the original will be up in it’s (slightly edited) glory. 


	5. Chapter 5

  
Chapter 5: Series Fauxnale

  
So both of these take place post Buu. (and I suppose they could fit anywhere in before the start of Super now that super exists. ) 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There Is No Kill Like Overkill

"Namek did you just throw my child into a mountain!?"

"Yes"

"And would you care to explain why the hell do you think hurling my son into a hunk of rock is an effective way to train him?"

"Hey now!" Gohan interjected worried that Piccolo and Vegeta were going to start a serious fight if this conversation kept going, "It's very effective, Piccolo threw me into plenty of mountains when I was even younger than Trunks and I turned out just fine!"

"Fine, you?" laughed Vegeta "you spend half your time running around in a fucking cape playing Superhero and the other half hiding your powers and pretending to be a weak, pathetic human! Namek if my child ends up like this brain damaged moron I swear to the Kai's I will end you." Vegeta made an exaggerated sweeping motion toward Gohan, who was frowning severely at the shorter Saiyan.

"Brain damaged moron, you take that back and you take back what you said about Piccolo's training!" Gohan yelled hair flashing gold "besides I'd rather be a brain damaged moron than a half-pint windbag!"

"Oh look at the mouth on you brat, you'd best watch yourself boy unlike some people I haven't been slacking on my training, I can take anything you can throw at me." Vegeta snapped back, his power level steadily increasing. Gohan and Vegeta stared at one another inches from one another now, teeth bared and fists clenched.

Piccolo tried to ignore them both as they traded insults and continued to power up. Ignoring them became harder by the second as they continued to trade insults. Piccolo half wondered if Vegeta was letting himself get baited this easily or he was purposefully trying to get Gohan mad enough to power up fully. He sighed, annoyed that both Vegeta and Gohan had chosen to accompany Trunks to his weekly training session. Training, in his experience was hindered proportionally by the number of Saiyans present, one was fine, two was manageable, and three was unbearable.

Piccolo kept his eyes focused on the rubble that had been a mountain before Trunks had taken it out with a ki blast rather than dashing himself against it. He smiled as he remembered Gohan doing something similar years ago. Good, Piccolo thought, he's getting better at staying focused under pressure. He saw Trunks pick himself up out of the rubble, rather than crying, which is what he had done the first time Piccolo had decided to throw him into a mountain, he got up, dusted himself off and launched himself at Piccolo, ki flaring.

Good, Piccolo thought he's getting more determined, I can see the fire in his eyes, he wants to fight back instead of complain. Piccolo smirked and fell into a defensive position, getting ready to block the flurry of blows Trunks would surely attack him with.

Vegeta and Gohan stopped yelling and powered down to watch the small purple blur that Trunks had become as he attacked Piccolo with no complaints and uncharacteristic conviction.

"See" Gohan bragged, "a month ago Trunks would have been angry and complaining, look at him now! Getting thrown into mountains is a surprisingly great way to build character."

Vegeta only grunted in response.

Gohan was grinning watching Piccolo easily outmaneuver Trunks, remembering his own childhood training. Gohan admitted to himself he was a little jealous that Piccolo had chosen to take on another student, only a little though. One look at Piccolo showed how much he loved teaching younger warriors, even if he spent most of his time grumbling about it. Besides Gohan thought I am clearly still the favourite student.

Vegeta watched as his son and the Namek sparred, impressed at how patient Piccolo was being, holding back his power when he attacked Trunks. He managed to hit him just hard enough to hurt the boy slightly, but not enough to stop the spar or to cause any permanent damage. Vegeta had to admit his control over his ki was head and shoulders above his own, even though Piccolo could not match him in raw power. Yes, it had been a good idea to ask the Namek to train Trunks, he would have never had the patience, or the skill, to teach his son the basics without causing serious damage.

Vegeta winced as he heard Trunks say something to Piccolo, and then winced again as he saw his son fly headfirst into a plateau. Piccolo's training methods were unorthodox. But, he thought to himself as he saw his son, once again dig himself out of the rubble and fly toward the Namek, more determined than ever to best him, 'you can't argue with results'

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drunken Master

  
"Namek, are you as bored as I am?" Vegeta strode over to where Piccolo was standing which happened to be under a tree on the back of the Capsule Corp lawn.

Piccolo surveyed the party that he had been dragged to commemorate the anniversary of Buu's defeat. Son was roughhousing with Trunks and Goten, Gohan was talking to Videl and her idiot father, Krillen was talking to the other humans and Dende about something inane.

"I am, yes" Piccolo replied, not moving from his shady spot, "I assume you have a solution to this?"

"You assume correctly, Namek" Vegeta smirked joining him in the shade. Piccolo glanced at him; he was always shocked when Vegeta wore civilian clothing even though he easily pass as a human he always looked just a bit out of place.

"Spar?"

"Not today, I ….uh.." Vegeta stopped and looked down "promised the woman I would go one day without training."

Piccolo smirked in response

"Shut up Namek. This should prove just as entertaining, if not more so" Vegeta left the tree and started walking toward Capsule Corps main building.

Piccolo shrugged and followed Vegeta through the building. Whatever he had planned was probably more interesting than standing alone under a tree.

Piccolo followed Vegeta into a large room filled with oak cases along every wall and multiple types of glass bottles, there was a long low table with four stools and a small cabinet filled with glasses.

Vegeta walked over to one of the cases and took down a square bottle filled with a light brown liquid "Do you know what this is?"

"I believe it's some kind of alcohol?" Piccolo answered, he knew Krillen and Yaumcha would drink similar things at Bulma's parties, though he was shocked with the variety of alcohol on display in this room. Humans were peculiar, the vast majority of them couldn't figure out how to do something as simple as manipulate chi but they could find hundreds of ways to ferment grains for mood altering effects.

"You're damn right it is," Vegeta said smiling wickedly, uncorking the bottle and pouring a generous amount of whisky into two glasses on the table. "Have you ever had anything like this, Namek?"

Piccolo searched his memories as well as Kami's and came up negative "I can't say that I have."

"Perfect," Vegeta sat down at the bar picking up his glass. "You see Namek, most of the planets I have visited, no matter how backwater, had figured out booze at some point in their history. Though I did not see any evidence of it on your mud ball of a planet which leads me to believe your people have not developed it, and I am wondering how well you hold your liquor as a result."

"You're disappointed that my species, the one who invented the universe altering, all powerful, wish granting Dragonballs never figured to try and rot some fruit until it turned into a liquid and then try to drink it?"

"Exactly, now are you in or not?"

Piccolo sighed and sat down. He was not entirely sure how his body would react but he was competitive and he couldn't stand how smug Vegeta was being. "Fine, if I die I blame this entirely on you."

Vegeta only raised his glass in response "Bottoms up, Namek"

Piccolo sighed and raised his glass, "Here goes nothing"

\- Two Hours Later -

Piccolo placed his glass down and surveyed the array of bottles that littered the bar, by his count there were at least twenty in all different shapes and sizes. Vegeta kept getting alcohols of different varieties, each tasting worse than the last. Though each bottle they drained did seem to put Vegeta in a better mood. Piccolo so far had noticed no effects, though he supposed not becoming violently ill at ingesting a foreign liquid was a positive experience.

"How does brandy sound, Namek?" Vegeta asked as he got up from his stool and went back to the cabinet. He walked confidently and did not sway. Though Piccolo was not showing any signs of being affected by drinking Vegeta was confident he would start to feel it soon. All he had to do was wait and he would see the first drunk Namek in history first-hand."

Piccolo watched as Vegeta sat down and opened the bottle, he was mildly concerned at how red Vegeta looked. Piccolo sighed as they once again picked up their glasses. This was going to be a long day.

\- Two Hours Later -

Glasses littered the bar and most of the flat surfaces in the room. Piccolo was sure they had drank their way through at least a quarter of the cabinets.

Piccolo sighed to himself; things had been going fine until the last half hour or so, then Vegeta who had been acting fairly normally, had devolved into a bit of a mess.

You know Piccolo, you are my…..you're my best friend on this planet" Vegeta hiccupped resting his head on the table glass still raised in the air. "I don't…..think….I ever told you that…."

Piccolo sighed, "Yes, you've said that three times in a row, just now in fact"

"Well it's true" Vegeta said looking at Piccolo with bloodshot eyes " 's true…." He trailed off resting his head on the table and closing his eyes.

Cautiously the door to the room opened and Gohan peeked his head in, "Mr. Piccolo" he said softly "what are you and Vegeta doing, you've been missing for hours and ….oh geeze," Gohan stopped as he surveyed the state of the room. "Piccolo did you…..do this"

"I did about half of it" Piccolo said getting up off the stool smoothly "you can thank Vegeta for the other half" he said gesturing to Vegeta who was slouched over the bar still clutching his drink.

Vegeta lifted his head slightly at the mention of his name " Waz Kakarott's brat doing here" he slurred " Go away brat, you're too young for this, come back when you grow up." He finished slouching back over the table and began to snore softly.

Gohan looked at Piccolo and Piccolo rolled his eyes in response shaking his head.

"I guess alcohol has no biological effect on you, that's absolutely fascinating Piccolo, I wonder if it has to do with the ability for your liver to process toxins or your regenerative capabilities or if you even have a liver? Do you have a liver, since you drink water you’d need some kind of organ to filter out waste, but where would it be located?, I imagine you would have a similar organ but given your alien biology….. "

"Yes I am sure it's absolutely fascinating kid, but for now it is a mystery," Piccolo said, cutting Gohan off before he went into a long and boring explanation of his cell structure or something.

"So what do we do…with him? Do we get Bulma?" Gohan asked gesturing to Vegeta.

"No that would just embarrass him; he'll be fine on his own. We can let him sleep this off."

"Sure thing, Mr. Piccolo, that's awfully thoughtful of you" Gohan smiled heading for the door.

Piccolo only grunted in response, but before he turned to leave he conjured a blanket to fall on top of Vegeta. No, there was no sense embarrassing him in front of his wife and son. Piccolo thought to himself as he walked back outside. However, he would make sure to bring up some of the more….thoughtful, things that Vegeta had said to him. He may be Vegeta's best friend, but that didn't mean he was above rubbing this into his smug face at a later date. No, he was not above that.

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yeah. There you have it folks. The (tentative) last chapter of my first fanfiction in a number of years, I actually wrote both of these before the last chapter, since I was having a lot of fun imagining smaller interactions between Piccolo and Vegeta. I was playing around with more mundane day to day interactions in my head and these were the two I liked the most.
> 
> The last story is strongly influenced by a scene in the Lord of the Rings extended edition. So credit where credit is due there.
> 
> I have been playing in recent years with some of the smaller moments with Piccolo and Vegeta in Super (I wish there were more to be quite honest). But I am not sure if they will ever become fully realized chapters. 


End file.
